The Dead Sun (Star Force Series) by B. V. Larson Page B

with and dump them out.”
    “That would be vandalism and murder, Colonel. The microbiotic colonies—”
    “They’re unauthorized, that’s why you hid them. Are you going to cooperate or not?”
    “I will absolutely do so. But may I state that threats are unnecessary? Compliance is my natural first instinct. I will—”
    “No it isn’t, but revenge is mine. I’ll dump them into space, Marvin. They’ll be a block of ice five minutes from now if you don’t fake death extremely well.”
    “—again, totally unnecessary. I find that—”
    “Stop transmitting, Marvin. You’re done.”
    I cut the channel and stood up, raising my hand to stop the ongoing litany of complaints from the Centaur delegation. They shuffled from hoof to hoof skittishly.
    “I’ve heard enough. I’ve decided that I have been deceived. I thank you for having brought this matter to my attention. Today, you have revealed to me a traitor in our midst. I will resolve this matter immediately.”
    So saying, I strode purposefully toward Marvin. He did a great job of looking alarmed. Every camera he had watched me advance, and he scuttled back a few steps.
    “I trusted this machine because I believed you sent him to me. I now understand no machine can be trusted in this manner. They’re incapable of honor, and they have no fur.”
    “Your statements are a sequence of non sequiturs ,” Marvin complained.
    “Shut up and shut down, steel devil!” I shouted, and I sprang on Marvin’s back. Obediently, Marvin went limp. He’d surmised correctly that this must have been the signal I’d been talking about.
    “What has happened to the machine?” asked the Centaurs, circling around warily.
    I ripped a tentacle off and waved it at the herd. I threw it into their midst, with the camera still attached. They leapt away as if a snake had landed in the grass at their feet. Perhaps, in a way, it had.
    “I’ve shut it down, and I’m now going to disassemble this monster.”
    A hailing signal beeped on my com-link. I opened it with a stealthy tap.
    “Colonel Riggs, I must protest. You said nothing about disassembly.”
    “Play dead, Marvin,” I whispered. “You brought this on yourself.”
    “I don’t see how—”
    “You could have stayed on the damned ship!”
    I closed the channel and proceeded to strip every tentacle from the robot and kicked the brainbox repeatedly, denting the sides. I knew that unless I ruptured it, Marvin would survive. He could rebuild external damage in a few hours, as long as it didn’t affect his neural chains. He wasn’t going to be happy, but I was having a little fun, I have to admit.
    The Centaurs, for their part, grew increasingly bold. By the end, they joined in, urinating and scatting on the prone, motionless robot.
    I could only wonder if curse words were looping around inside his artificial mind.

-8-
     
    “If I’m not mistaken, you enjoyed that experience, Colonel Riggs,” Marvin complained an hour or so later.
    I struggled not to smile. Kwon blew it by laughing hugely. “That has to be the funniest thing I’ve seen all year. I got a vid from the landing craft. You guys want to watch it again?”
    “That won’t be necessary, Kwon,” I said with mock severity. “Could you all wait outside? Marvin has been humiliated enough.”
    Kwon stumped out chuckling. The two techs that were on hand to reassemble Marvin’s broken body also left reluctantly. Everyone wanted to hear this conversation.
    Marvin watched them go. He looked down at his broken form. He did look pathetic. He was just a brainbox with a few wobbly arms lofting cameras and no legs to speak of. It made me think of him as an infant, as an almost helpless intellect exploring his world for the first time. I hardened myself against such sentimental thoughts.
    “You sent them away before they finished reassembling my person,” Marvin complained.
    “That’s right,” I said. “I thought you and I should talk in private.”
    “Yes,” he